JLoeats.com

ok, ok,
so xmas dinner can be fun and fabulous and wonderful, and tonight, mine was fabu. — my gravy was the best ever. MMMM..
turkey furkey gravy! :) yum yum.

and my jlo special flambe smoked lamb shanks were a hit too…
well, other than the fact that i almost burnt the house down.
no joke.
but it’s quite funny now that i think about it. hahaha.
i’ve never been so calm watching my food burst into flames before. and of all things, a grease fire.
seriously, after working in a kitchen at a fancy french restaurant where things are supposed to be flambed, nothing phases me anymore… well, until i realized that i was cooking for 8 people in my mom’s tiny unorganized kitchen with my sixteen year old untrained (as in with the culinary world) sister who was freaking out.
“umm, yee chea!!! it’s smoking, it’s smoking… aghh shit.” yeah.
— AND, that the asian pacific brand fume hood over my pan was not exactly umm, how to say: industrial strength?

ok. think jlo think! don’t freak out cuz the rest of the LO’s are and all ran into the kitchen to “help”…
my mom ran into the kitchen screaming. “daddy aghhh!! say LAH! help!” — “it’s ok, it’s ok, i got it under control” i scream back, but then, poof, it got bigger… shit don’t panic.

and i guess the lo’s are used to relying on my dad to jump in whenever we have any sort of family emergency, like the time we all jumped up onto the counter (all 4 of us ladies including my mother) at a vacation rental house in hawaii cuz two mice ran across the kitchen — UMM< DADDDDDD!!! lol.

anyway, you can control this chef, come on, tHINK!
turn off the heat jlo.
ok good.
now throw a lid on it. cover it. shit. it’s still burning. not working…
and at that point, i love that the boy scout in my dad blew at it, umm, whut?!. what are you doing dad!? –
POOF, the rest of the corn oil in the pan that was already smoking that was under the lid, caught on fire at that moment too…
almost like one of those polynesian eat fire shows where the man blows out fire from his mouth, but instead that man was my dad, and he was breathing it.
and exactly then, i grimaced because i almost lost my eyebrows, and the rest of the family screamed in unison.
LOL.
“ok dad, STOP. DON’T BLOW ON IT! i got it… ”
and now i was thinking, “stupid corn oil, your smoke point is lower than that other stupid olive/veggie mix that is the only thing my mom uses in this house…”
think jlo think! — what did chef ted teach us? — right, SALT, or FLOUR. whichever is in plenty or nearest. SMOTHER WITH FLOUR, B was making a PIE So where’s the FREAKING AP?…
grab me that AP!
i dumped about half the 5 lb bag over my pan, it got smaller, so i took the lid off, witnessed another flare up, and dumped the rest of the flour on top.
worked like a charm.

next thought was (AS I AM A COOK AT HEART): SAVE THE LAMB SHANKS!! Those suckers were organic, expensive, and still good still good! They weren’t on fire, the oil was!! And they’re browned so beautifully!! So i dug them out of the flour mound. calmed my mom, told her and my sister to go back to watching the movie, asked B to run downstairs to grab the vaccum, and my dad opened all the windows. He calmed the smoke alarm, and i cleaned up, organized myself again and resumed xmas dinner cooking, T-minus one hour before uncle, auntie lu, and grandpaaa got here.
I peeked into the oven, and like an oblivious bird, the turkey was un-phased. haha, ok good. *few* thank you xmas miracle.
geeessseee lousieee…

SOOOOooOo.
jlo’s cooking tip #1
HOW TO PUT OUT A KITCHEN GREASE FIRE.
- stop. think. stay calm. turn the heat off of your pan or whatever you’re using on your stove top.
don’t panic.
- never never blow on a greese fire.
- never never put water on a grease fire either.
- Smother it with FLOUR, or SALT, and if you have a lid big enough, COVER It.
(you will only feed the fire if you add — oxygen, wind, air, or more heat to it) You want to take away the oxygen component of the fire to put it out. so smother the sucker, aiight? bingo? smango.
*** a fire has three major components -like a pyramid that keep it going – oxygen, dry heat, and the element that is burning — so basically a fire will go out if you have one of the 3 legs of the pyramid thrown off balance — oxygen can be taken away with smothering, dry heat away when the heat source is removed or water is added, and or you wait for the element that is burning to burn out (in which case if the fire is still burning after you put the lid on it for a kitchen grease fire, put the pot/pan into a cold oven carefully and with triple padding oven mits and long sleeves, and let it burn out. if you live in canada and it’s a winter time, make a run for the door and stick the sucker in the snow if you’re even able to carry the burning pan. (that was my plan B tonight) This is when you can call the fire dept if you’re still freaking out, or if it’s just getting out of control.

- always keep a fire extinguisher near your kitchen if you cook a lot. (we have two, but i love that in a bind, no one thought of to grab it, well i was thinking to grab it if the flour didn’t work so well, cuz it’s a lot of chemical, but also, a large size fire extinguisher will only last about 8 seconds, we have two tiny home sized ones)

i’m lucky i paid attention to all the fire safety programs we had in elementary school back in the day and have always been intregued with fire, i’m quite the pyro when i go camping, but, even so, be careful.
fire can be fun,
and cooking can be fun,
but always always exercise caution.

JLO TIp #2
HOW TO PREVENT KITCHEN GREASE FIRES FROM HAPPENING.

-ALWAYS USE HIGH SMOKE POINT OILS / FATS if you’re going to SAUTE, STIR FRY, GRILL, or DEEP FRY, SHALLOW/PAN FRY IN YOUR HOUSE.
– peanut oil, canola, clarified butter. work well.
– olive oils (extra virgin, non virgin, whatever), grapeseed oil, and the like, should be eaten raw — try them in salads! :)

when / if you see your PAN or OILs start to SMOKE in your PAN, remove the pan from heat source immediately and Grab a fistful of salt or flour just in case. When a fat starts to smoke, it’s ABOUT to BURST go into flames.

SO BE CAREFUL,
and ENJOY COOKING!! :)

ps – my smoked lamb shank came out beautifully after i “browned” it good in my flambed pan, LOL. i braised it with mirepoix (25% carrot, 25% celery, 50% onion), leeks, garlic, thyme, corriander, a bay leaf, two cloves, pancaged it with one cut up tomato, deglazed it with half a bottle of red wine, and cover with a pint of beef stock and a pint of veggie stock to stew for 1 1/2 hours on stove top or in oven at 375 F.

xoxox, Happy safe cooking this Holiday!! xoxox

Tags: Fats, Oil, Smoke Points